Design your own Lightsaber: May the Fourth be with you

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May the fourth is a celebration of all things Star Wars. This year, we’re making sure that includes 3D CAD. From lightsabers to astromech droids, this post combines CAD with a galaxy far, far away.

Design your own lightsaber

Whether your loyalties fall on the light or dark side of the force, building your own lightsaber is something all fans have thought of. Aaron Winthers, SOLIDWORKS Application Engineer at Prism Engineering, and Joe Galliera, Senior Technical Sales Specialist with SOLIDWORKS, collaborated to help you design your own elegant weapon for a more civilized age.

Aaron began the project by searching the internet for lightsaber design plans. He found a model inspired by Luke Skywalker’s Return of the Jedi model. Click here to view the model.  Aaron designed the lightsaber to have dynamic motion of its blade at the assembly level. Further, the model and assembly “talk” so that any changes in the model are reflected in the assembly and its mates.

Click here to learn more about Prism Engineering.

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Then Joe threw in a background image of the Emperor’s Throne Room, where Luke has his final duel with Darth Vader, and animated the lightsaber with sound.

 

Ready to get started on your own CADsaber? Download the lightsaber zip file and place contents into the Downloads folder. From here, you can make a configuration of your own. Remember to click and drag the end of the blade in the “Final Assembly” so you can watch it move like a real lightsaber.

Download the lightsaber zip file (note Img 01-03 explain how to include the custom background).

If that’s not enough to satiate your Hutt-like appetite for CAD and Star Wars, we’ve combed the design desert and found plenty of cool models for you to check out.

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Joe Galliera once again shows his passion for CAD, Flow Simulation and the Force.

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After some analysis, Joe wants to point out that Tie Fighters and the Millennium Falcon are good for space, but experience a ton of drag and waste massive amounts of fuel just to keep airborne in a terrestrial atmosphere. How can we suspend disbelief? Joe wants you to remember that crafts in a galaxy far, far away run on hypermatter.

Looking for droids? Ray Keane designed everyone’s favorite Astromech droid that you can check out on GRABCAD. This is the droid you’re looking for.

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Download the files here: https://grabcad.com/library/r2d2

Chanson, a Certified SOLIDWORKS Professional, wanted to move a break from designing cars and engines, so he opted to build the Rolls-Royce of Tie Fighters: Darth Vader’s Advanced x1.

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Download the files here: https://grabcad.com/library/darth-vaders-tie-fighter

Interested in invading a forest moon or ice planet? SOLIDWORKS user Adrian, created AT-AT Walker models for your Imperial needs.

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Download the files here: https://grabcad.com/library/star-wars-at-at-walker

 

May the fourth be with you…always! 

 

 

 

SOLIDWORKS

SOLIDWORKS

Dassault Systèmes SolidWorks Corp. offers complete 3D software tools that let you create, simulate, publish, and manage your data. SolidWorks products are easy to learn and use, and work together to help you design products better, faster, and more cost-effectively. The SolidWorks focus on ease-of-use allows more engineers, designers and other technology professionals than ever before to take advantage of 3D in bringing their designs to life.
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